Page 43 of Monstrous Baby
Squeezing my eyes shut, I focused on not freaking out. How the fuck did I know what blood smelled like? Especially since Axxol was at least twenty feet away?
With my eyes closed, the smell intensified, as if my nose started working overtime. Hints of ozone sparked in the coppery scent, telling me it was Axxol’s blood and not Rizan’s. Though thinking of his turquoise feathers and shining green eyes convinced my brain that Rizan’s blood would smell like the jungle. Fresh green living things. Maybe spiced with tropical fruit.
Now I’m really losing it.
The marks. Kroktl’s and now Snryx’s. I’d tasted their blood when I bit them, which had only intensified everything I felt for them. Of course my brain would start fantasizing about the rest of the squad’s blood. I wasn’t turning into some kind of sex-crazed bloodthirsty maniac vampire.
Right? Right.
Rushing air fluttered my hair back from my face. Rizan landed with a heavy thud right in front of the window.:You can find out what I taste like right now if you wish.:
I couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose at him—even though my mouth watered embarrassingly. “Not while you’re in your?—”
Wings tucked, feathers started melting back beneath his skin. He didn’t turn inside out so much as simply absorb his dynos shape, with just enough feathers across his head and shoulders to remind me exactly what his creature could do. Fly. Rake talons and teeth across even a T-rex’s thick hide and draw blood. Blast waves of echolocation for over a hundred miles, constantly scanning for our enemies. While effortlessly cobbling together miscellaneous Earth tech to show me glimpses into scientific technology so advanced it might as well be magic.
“Not yet. Not until Kroktl’s back.”
Rizan nodded without a single protest or grumble.
:We can come back now,:Kroktl said.:Akylla has herself a nice little feast.:
Barely, I suppressed a shudder. I carefully didn’t look at the grid to pick up on what poor thing she might have caught.:There’s no rush. Besides, you haven’t been eating much. You should catch yourself something to eat too.:
:I’m fine. I’ll snack on the squad’s kills.:
Deep down in our private connection, I felt a faint yearning, even though he tried to suppress it. The urge to run as fast and silent as possible. Be free. Kill his own prey. Revel in his strength and power that had increased so much since he’d found me.
:You haven’t had time to be yourself since you found me. You spend all your time with me.:
:Without a single complaint from me, baby. I love every second I can spend with you.:
I sent him an image of my head resting on his chest, my arms around his waist.:And I love it too. But it’s okay for you to have time doing other things, too. You absolutely should have time to do all the things you love. You were made for running fast and killing.:
:I do all the things I love to you.:He made a low, wicked laugh rattle the grid.:I’m made to love you.:
:Go,:I said more firmly, though I let a sultry heat flow through me. I knew he’d feel it too.:Run. Feast. Then come home to fuck me as hard and fast as you run.:
He roared in the night, just like when I’d been lost in the jungle. That sound of terror shrilled down my spine, sending my heart rate into overdrive. I shivered, clutching my arms around myself, fighting the urge to run.Don’t run. Never, ever run.
Unless I wanted to be caught.
Axxol’s beast let out an even more terrifying roar that rattled the glass in the window.:When we mark each other, I want you to run from me first. So I can catch you.:
:Bet,:Kroktl retorted on the grid.:She can run from both of us.:
Another prehistoric shriek echoed through the night. Akylla. She raced through the underbrush after her father, little legs pumping, but she wouldn’t be able to keep up with him for long.
:Run, little menace,:Axxol said.:I’m right behind you.:Though for my sake, he added,:I’ll keep her safe while Red runs.:
Wind picked up, rocking the trees on the edge of the jungle back and forth. The air felt more humid despite the breeze. “There’s a storm coming.”
“It’s actually a hurricane,” Rizan said.
On the grid, he displayed a weather radar map showing a spinning red eye headed straight for our little blue pin on the coast. Fucking great. As if extraterrestrial dyni squads hunting us and a giant pod of space whales hurting toward me weren’t enough, now we had a massive hurricane coming too.
I’d seen Jurassic Park.
The dinosaurs had already escaped. Maybe it was time for us to wreak havoc on our enemies in the eye of the storm.
